KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) will be leading an initiative to nominate ‘Kebaya: Knowledge, Skills, Traditions and Practices’ under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (Unesco) Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity for 2023.
Malaysia will be doing this alongside Brunei, Indonesia, Singapura and Thailand as the kebaya represents and celebrates a shared historical legacy and is still worn in communities across Southeast Asia, Motac said in a statement.
“The kebaya is an item of clothing that symbolises a cultural legacy and the identification of the Malays, Peranakan (Chinese, Baba Nyonya, Chetti, Siamese, Kristang) and other communities in Malaysia as well as countries in Southeast Asia.
“The kebaya fulfils the definition of intangible cultural heritage elements as it includes traditional weaving skills such as embroidery and sewing techniques to create this traditional women’s clothing,” it said.
Each country taking part in the nomination has been included in a series of meetings held since early last year, it said.
Malaysia had hosted the first physical workshop held in Port Dickson in November last year while the second workshop was held in Jakarta in February this year during which the nomination form was updated in line with a new format Unesco had introduced, it added.
An online workshop was held by Singapore last month to finalise the contents of the nomination form, it said.
“The kebaya has a close relationship with other cultural legacies such as celebrations and weddings.
“There are communities that actively make and wear the kebaya who share and convey knowledge and the socio-cultural value of the kebaya from generation to generation,” it added.
The nomination efforts were to ensure the kebaya remains protected through the delivery of knowledge, promotional efforts and documentation or research efforts with the support of the other countries involved in the nomination, it said.
“Through the kebaya, an opportunity was given to us to promote and celebrate the cultural legacy found in the Southeast Asian region,” it added.
Unesco’s decision on the nomination will be finalised in the 19th Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage next year, it said.
